Does what it says on the er tin.

Yeah I'm not entirely sure either.

There are some things that really put your faith back in people. Ya know little things like a surprise muffin on a shitty day.

Yesterday was my last day at Midas (And I stayed back a bit as I didn't quite finish everything, figures!) and you know it's really weird not getting up early for work. But already I'm missing it, the stupid discussions (Like last week on pet ducks), strange escapades (Catching a loose pet rabbit, he bit me but hey he's been rehomed now), the rantings when computers didn't work, the odd rhymes to remember different client names...

And the silly things Steve does as well, he kinda "fell" on the floor last week which was brilliant. How many bosses do you know who'd come in one day and start doing the Roobarb and Custard theme for the sheer hell of it? I still remember cracking up laughing at that.

Of course there's Helen, Steve's wife. There really are a lovely pair of people. Hell they all are, even probably the politest child you'll ever meet (An 8 year old wanting to shake your hand, I mean what the futch). It's definitely something to admire.

They really didn't have to but everybody got me a card for leaving yesterday, one having an obligatory rabbit (After the chasing fiasco, I earned that one aha) and asked to keep updated as well. Not only that, even a little present AND a book voucher.

That present contained art stuff. A sketchbook, pencils and one of those little putty eraser things. They put more thought into that than my dad ever has and they've known me a lot less time. How freaking messed up is that? I couldn't believe it when I saw it. Even a big thank you in the card.

If anything I should be thanking them for the chance to do something if only for a while (Which I will be getting on with shortly) and like heck they had to but they wanted to anyway.

I don't know it just gives you faith that not everybody makes you question if you're the only one with any consideration left to even hold a door open which many are too lazy to do.


Oh and I got an interview for the Co-Op this morning for Thursday. Damn that was fast.


So wish me luck, I can't help but look at the cards and the arty things beside me without smiling now, it just feels like a corner's been turned at last.


Also, Sylar you evil bastard.

A day early but FINALLY it has reached the humble European shores.

Took their freaking time.

Grey never stays put and Fluff only does for a minute max.

And I turned him into a lion GAH.

Grey is bottom left and on the right, would she stay still would she hell. But she had an op this week so we can forgive her :)

We got talking about demonic rabbits in Artspots Chat and well...

God I swear I'll never get back on top of these things. Currently I have in the wings to be read:

Monthlys:
Imagine FX July 2008
EDGE June 2008
EDGE July 2008
NEO June 2008
ONM June 2008
ONM July 2008
N-rev June 2008 (Revamp that pours out rainbows and skittles, subscription pends of if I don't go blind reading)
About 20 Corel Painter Magazines

Other:
EDGE Presents: Game Artwork
Getting into the Games Industry (Mini)
Game Industry Insider (Mini)
Nividi games we helped make (Mini, several)

Books:
Fell
Eldest
Countless art and reference books


I'm quite behind. Takes DAYS to read through EDGE as they're so big. Thankfully sides from Corel coming soon they'll be a gap I can play catch up in before they all grab their pitchforks and shout READ ME.

My head is absolutely killing me right now so have a couple of hashes for something that failed.

Amazing. Well now thats cracked I can go back to making rocks. Lots of rocks. Yessir.

Something I need to work on certainly. This was a mini test for the first of I'm losing count how many pieces of art I owe right now, a small portion of it mind and I might be lazy and copy that rock over to the proper.

Still, from this mini mess I learnt something which is the most important.

Ah artwork… Sometimes you love it for the sheer thrill of creating something with your own hands and others you’re sitting there cursing it’s existence for a varying amount of reasons which sometimes includes the instruments you use to create it “dying” on you in the hour of need.

 

Not that it has for me presently of course, it’s actually being unusually behaved if you ignore other wireless networks punting my own connection off and forcing a reset to get the blasted thing back. OpenCanvas has crashed a couple of times but you know, actual stability for a change in my department.

 

 

I seem to be mostly sketching of late, yanno little 10 minute max dealies though I am actually somewhat working on what I’m supposed to be. I can’t help but feel guilty whenever I do a sketch though but in turn owing art is stopping me from doing as many “big” uns as I do normally so guess that drive is gonna be going somewhere useful in the end. That’s the hope anyway. I’ve certainly learnt a couple of new little things while sketch mauling and been reading up on composition so maybe, just maybe, I’ll do something a little less Y Halo Thar I usually do.

 

 

So far for the first I owe I’ve just done some little thumbnail dealies with the two starred ones being my favourite… With the image I’m working on I know what I want it’s how to pull it off so that did actually help a lot.

 

Google threw up some nifty reference images that’ll be a great help too. You can see my thumbnails of what I plotted below. Nothing grand, very messy but hey it worked.

 

 

Soon as my back-ups done (Every Sunday, takes hours but it is a must) I’m gonna start the first stages of smashdom, it could get ugly.

 

 

Belows a couple of sketches I did this week, nothing grand but it gets it out my system when I’m not doing something properly. I tend to smash up things for characters a lot but never show them (FD has one for example but not shown it).

 

 

 

 

I still do enjoy drawing; I just enjoy the guilt free version :) Slow and steady wins the race my ass. And Lordy am I slow at doing anything game, art or otherwise. I think it’s the lack of “proper” deadlines; I get distracted and slack off. Not deliberately I swear!

 

Either way, the owed ones now I can see what I’m doing I’m hoping to finally topple the Shi’Rah image people are still praising the heck out of even though it looks ghastly two years later.

 

Have a good week :D

What can I say. The co-creator of D&D died yesterday, the one who helped kick start my favourite genre with a game that enthralled thousands if not millions to this day. Despite ill health his joy came from being part of the universe he helped create. The game that united so many artists allowing them to be part of the various incarnations of books produced which were always a joy to look through.

May you finally rest without pain and that the legacy that is your game keep going for years to come.

 You know you should really go to art school…!

 

Blargh.

 

I seem to get this comment an awful lot by people flicking through my doodles or just randomly announcing it with rarely a care to actually look at what I draw, if you draw you must go to art school apparently. It’s like a business buzzword, you don’t even have to understand it nor the context, just shout it anyway.

 

Yet as I repeatedly try to explain to them, it’s expensive with the bulk down south (go figure) and I’m nowhere near that kind of calibre to ditch everything to attempt something. It’s just something that, in the end at this point of time, would just mess an awful lot of people around, particularly me.

 

 

Lets face it, my skills are seriously lacking. My expressions, backgrounds, poses, colour theory, interaction, that sorda thing are pretty non-existent. My anatomy has improved vastly of late I admit but that doesn’t get you everywhere which so many people fail to grasp.

 

This has been an utterly horrible year for artwork due to a variety of circumstances that probably did set me back quite a bit, there is still a lot to learn even for the basics in the use of the software I have before perhaps I really get cracking with them and go to the next stage I have plotted but not at that mark yet.

 

 

I’ll be honest; I’d love to do something with m art or hell my writing and photography if I could. These are things I love, excluding gaming which is another of course, that there is existing potential to do something with those mediums if you have the skill and the standard to meet them. Could I see myself doing any of them professionally? Probably not but we can dream can’t we?

 

I’m doing admin work right now and what some of my college courses were but there is no real love to do it if I‘m honest. It happens to be something I can do, get to work with computers which is great but could I see myself doing that sorda work all my life? No way in heck.

 

I’m not faulting any of the placements I’m doing, bottom line is I need work, I need the money and too many employers are terrified of having to train somebody as it’ll cost them. As much as I’d love to, I can’t drop everything to focus on something that as it stands right now, might work. Most of my savings were already used up just paying for driving lessons.

 

Even then I probably wouldn’t till I actually hit a quality standard rather than go flailing off.

But that’s about it really. It really irritates me when people say it like you magically are the next great master at the click of your fingers. Yes be supportive if you do so wish but not trying to steer a course for somebody else’s life.

I've been asked quite a few times, "What sort of music do you like?" which always gets a, too many, back. I love a range of genres, new and old from lyrical to none

Some groups or single singers I like the odd song, some I love loads of them. Soooo below I've bagged together some of my favourites. There's a good chance I missed some so could be updated at any time...

All Saints

Pure Shores
Never ever

Anastacia

I’m outta love
Sick and Tired
Left outside alone
Everything burns
Pieces of a dream
One day in your life
Paid my dues

Aqua

Barbie Girl
Doctor Jones

Arai Akino

Natsukashii Umi (Kurau Phantom Memory opening)

Avril Lavigne

Things I’ll never say
Complicated
I’m with you
Unwanted
My Happy Ending
Tomorrow

Bette Middler

Wind Beneath my Wings

Blessid Union of Souls

Brother My Brother

Bonnie Tyler

Total Eclipse of the Heart
Holding out for a Hero

Brian McFadden

Real To Me

So we've lost another British great (Scottish if you want to get technical) as well over the weekend. It's really sad, you didn't even have to strictly watch Rally to know about him. His son was also killed, a family friend and their son as well in a chopper crash near his home. Must be a bitter blow for all concerned, RIP the four of you, and condolences to your family.

Also condolences to Anita Roddick's family, for somebody who decided to look beyond her business making money until her sell out (Which many do consider it given who Body shop was sold to) but died so suddenly to a brain hemorrhage unrelated to her existing condition.


We're losing a lot of greats of late.

You might not know her if you're not in the UK, she however died late last night after finally losing her battle to terminal breast cancer. Just another cancer victim right?

Wrong.

She was told it was terminal in 2000 and had 6 months to live but instead of sitting around, she fought for as long a time possible to stay with her family no matter how hard it got. But she didn't stop there, despite her illness, despite knowing at any time she could die; she started to raise money for cancer charities so that even if she couldn't be saved herself, some day in the future her work might save another family.

Despite the great pain it caused her body, she did the London Marathon, a triathlon and the Great North Run back in 2002. After that in 2003, she and her brother went on a 1060 mile bike ride from John O'Groats to Land's End. From there she completed the Half Ironman triathlon competition and then in 2004, the full Ironman triathlon.

Her final run last year she cycled from San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge to Brooklyn Bridge in New York City


In the end she managed to raise over £1.5 million for those charities, a truly crazy amount given how ill she was. Aside from waving people off for another charity race in Leeds, she was spending her final months with family which after all she'd done, what better could there be?

I somehow doubt she will rest now she has the chance but decide to keep an eye on her family, she has all the time in the world now.


So RIP Jane, and wish your family the best. Perhaps with your help you have brought things a step closer and your wish will come true sooner than anybody can expect.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2585103.stm - If you would like to know more about her.

Since the old one became cluttered with random and complaints I decided to get a brand new and fresh one going where glaringly horrible art isn't on view on a constant basis. This is also to reflected in the username being that it seems to be my most stable one currently and I have stuck with it more than a couple of months, a miracle!

Bits of artwork/sketches may appear here, photos, whats happening in general and will let me ramble my merry way without my DA account being flooded with it. You've been warned :)